Parishes Struggle in Wake of Hurricane Irene

From North Carolina to Maine, Episcopalians joined their neighbors to clean up in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene. The Episcopal News Service reported that parishes along the storm path suffered various levels of damage and many Episcopal Church congregations in dioceses along the east coast canceled their Sunday services on Aug. 28 because of predictions that Irene would hit that day.

According to David Jette, Head Verger at the Parish of Trinity Church in Lower Manhattan, "We shut our doors and canceled all Sunday services for  perhaps the first time in our 314 year history. I can say with absolute verity that this has never happened in my 26 years at Trinity." The rector and vicar of Trinity chose to close both Trinity and Saint Paul’s Chapel at 6:00pm on Saturday with no re-opening until Monday at 7:00am. Jette added, "Trinity was spared the worst of the winds but with the heavy rain, August 2011 has turned out to the be the wettest month ever in New York City."

A report came in through the V-List from Richard Lamlin of St. John's Episcopal Church in Essex, CT that power outages were common throughout the region. He posted on Monday, August 29th, "My town of East Haddam was clobbered by Hurricane Irene. I don't expect power before the weekend. I managed to get out to a friend's home with power and hot water and coffee!  The church in Essex escaped harm, but still has no power. Keep us in your thoughts!"

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